"We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out." -Ray Bradbury

The Good, The Bad, and My Mom

That's my mom standing next to Father Totman -- Mom's the one without the beard.

The bad thing about having a blog that your mom reads is that you have to edit yourself and be mindful of the image you present to the online world. The good thing about having a mom who reads your blog is that it helps you to edit yourself and be mindful of the image you present to the online world.

That’s the great thing about mom’s: they’re there to cheer you on when the good happens, to pick you up when you’re sad, and to scold you when you’re bad.

Then the day comes when you no longer perceive yourself as the absolute center of the universe – seems like yesterday – and you realize that your mom needs a cheerleader too. She also needs someone to pick her up when she’s sad. But what do you do when she’s been bad?

My mom’s been bad. She’s been bad in a way that was once good but is now bad because it is bad for her to be so good and now she needs to learn to be good at being bad so she can be good again.

Confused? Let me put it another way…

My Mother has spent most of her life living way outside the center of her own universe. But Mother has been told that if she doesn’t start taking care of herself, put her health and her self at the center of her universe and at the top of her own To Do List, she may not be here To Do It anymore. And that’s bad. Very bad.

So here I am, the day before her birthday, knowing she’ll read this post, knowing she won’t be very happy with me for saying so and knowing she’ll forgive me (lucky for me, Mom and God have a lot in common).

Please, Mom, read the book, do the work, make yourself the center of your own universe for a while. We need you!

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.” –Helen Keller

YESTERDAY’S EXERCISE: Pew Aerobics and Choir Walks (I still have a hard time processing and singing and reading at the same time – I blame the choir robes)

What am I working on?

Here you can see how I build a project, from start to finish, on my design wall.

The pictures that I take along the way provide the bread crumb trail I use to get back on the path when I've gone astray. They also provide a different perspective and a distancing to my own work.

Last updated November 14.

Kim Mason: kz@tds.net

I'm a 49 year old Quilter, Episcopalian, and Lover of Words. I'm of mixed heritage (1/2 Ozark Hillbilly, 1/2 Southern Belle), I live in the Pacific NW and I love to talk about my family, quilting and country living.

Oh, and I'm SINGLE (in case you're wondering).

I am a freelance writer, outdoors columnist and photojournalist who loves meeting people while they are doing what they love and listening to them talk about their passions.

I live a Creative, Joy-filled Life in love with God, all creation and my neighbor (that means you). It's my vocation. I hope that one day, if I practice long and hard enough, I might get good at it.

I WOULD LOVE for you to leave me a comment or you can send me an email.

"We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us." -Marcel Proust

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Why “Oft Traveled”?

As much as I would like to believe that I am original or different, "There is nothing new under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 1:9). The road that I am on is a road that many other people have traveled before me. That fact gives me comfort, it humbles me and it reminds me that I am most certainly not alone on my journey.

A Prayer for the Road

My LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. -Thomas Merton from Thoughts in Solitude